Month: May 2016

This book might be classified as a primer, yet so specific in relation to certain practical techniques, i.e. those of tantric origin, and somewhat general or superficial in the rest. The book is easily read and the chapters quickly and clearly cover what they set out to cover in a clear and concise language. One might wonder why the Author uses the word sorcery? The current western tradition seems to have accepted the word Magic or Magick?

It would seem that the target group of this book is sexual magicians, well established within the western tradition, yet fairly unfamiliar with the eastern tradition. That is the only way we can make sense of Jason Miller’s superficial presentation of the western sexual magickal techniques and his vigorous usage and constant inclusion of some of the eastern techniques. Unfortunately, if this be the case, then his title is somewhat misleading.

It would be better to call the book something different, like ”Tantric practices applied upon the western tradition”, in as much as the so-called ”vase-breathing” technique is applied together with almost every single sexual magickal technique. We felt that a broader coverage of sexual magickal techniques, a wider range if you will, would have served this book’s title better.

It is clear that the author has read some Spare, a bit Randolph, some of the OTO inner degree documents (yet not much Crowley besides that), some of Koenig’s slanderous webpages, and some chaos magick. That pretty much sums up the knowledge that went into covering the book’s take on western sex magick (technically speaking). So, it would seem that the author strives to cover all bases, yet falls short of many of the areas.

Concerning sexuality and the horizon of experience in that respect, the author does admit some of his shortcomings, yet it still does make up for some curious presentations and lacks in some of the chapters. For example, when speaking of homosexual magick, the Paris working of Aleister Crowley is not mentioned or referenced once. That seems rather odd since it is a source text when it comes to homosexual magick. Likewise, the chapter on BDSM seem more like a general and rather superficial intro, including a segment covering “safe-words”, yet nothing on how to e.g. utilize the transcendental qualities of pleasure and pain for magickal ends.

Since Mr. Miller’s experience is from the point of view of a heterosexual male, he can only cover that perspective in accordance with his praxis. He does strive to go beyond his limits and cover other perspectives (instead of perhaps collaborating with sexual partners of ”a different feather”). These other perspectives of his fall, of course, short of the target, like when he writes about the female practitioner of sexual magick seemingly without having gathered that much experience from the woman’s point of view. He states in the text that he thinks it’s unethical to work with “blind partners” (unknowing partners), so if he is following his own advice he should then have worked with women who hopefully knew what they were doing within his practice, but it seems like he hasn’t really tried to incorporate their experience into his work.

For example, the Author says that the problem of aiming for simultaneous orgasms is that many men tend to come too quickly and that many women tend not come at all. He then spends most of the book writing about how men should keep from coming and avoids the subject of female orgasms all together. On top of that, he says that you don’t have to have simultaneous orgasms but can just use the one, which isn’t really helping. It seems like he is not sure what the women would bring in terms of energy and magickal work to the sex magickal operation and it would seem that he doesn’t even know where to start looking.

The Appendix includes four rites of Sexual sorcery. We found the rituals somewhat superficial and were left wanting. Likewise, for a ”sexual sorcerer” keen on using tantric techniques with every possible ritual, it was surprising to discover that the tantric 5M rite was not included as a proposed sexual rite in the appendix. The notes and reference list does cover some of the classics, yet not nearly enough to be determined as a thorough reference list.

That being said, this book does have a few novel ideas and perspectives that might be considered enough to make this book worthy of purchase. Indeed, his strength most clearly lies within the eastern orders and as such he does a good job bridging those eastern techniques and uniting them within a western sexual magickal tradition.

To sum it up:

It would seem from the contents of this book, that he has a primary background in the tantric traditions of the Nyingma and Bon lineages of Tibet and secondarily a background in a few western magickal orders and a wandering bishop consecration. His consistent insistence on the ”Inner Fire” and ”Vase Breathing” techniques, no matter what tradition or magickal technique he is operating within, seems indicative of not only Jason Miller’s proclivities but even perhaps revealing of his inability to operate solely within the specific traditions that he highlights. This of course tells volumes about his own work and where we might find inspiration in his writing, namely his techniques and knowledge about the eastern tantric tradition.

His coverage of the western sexual magickal techniques and traditions leaves one wanting and might be found much better portrayed in other primers. One might say that he is broad in his coverage, yet a tad too shallow. He is a product of his time and culture in as much as he has much the same type of perspectives that every other sexual magickal author might have in respect to female orgasms within a sexual magickal operation, his lack of homosexual magickal knowledge and his somewhat superficial coverage of the magickal properties of BDSM. This book might therefore be defined as a slightly syncretistic sexual magick book, with emphasis on tantric breathing techniques.